#bread guy

Manu and Nyambura were not very happy with Walterine bringing the dragon home. Despite the would-be named Bruno being very small in size, he was still a dragon. Incidents with fire and arcane hijinks occurred more often than not. There were even a few times that Nyambura was more than ready to take the tiny dragon back to the Red Market herself, but Walt usually got her to stop by excessively pleading.

This started to strain their mother-daughter relationship, as one can imagine.

Despite all the chaos, Bruno eventually started to warm up to people. Walterine, of course, was the only one able to get close enough for him to become her familiar.

This eventually led to Manu starting to dote on him. Bruno had actively started trying to get attention from the middle-aged father, acting like a puppy in demanding pets and affection. Nyambura was not so easily swayed, but often commented that Bruno was a 'fine addition to the household'.

Bruno gradually figured out that his favorite spot to sleep on was: it was around his magician's neck. When going out, Walterine had Bruno secured around her shoulders like a scarf. The faerie dragon drew a lot of attention, but not once since he settled on Walt did anyone try to mug or steal anything she carried in her satchel ever again.

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*One day when Walt was inspecting a traveling vendor's wares, Bruno noticed someone new at cousin Selasi's bakery shop. Bruno lifted his head and gently tugged on Walt's ear, which made her squeak. (Pointed teeth hurt, y'know!)

As she rubbed her ear, Walt hissed, "What in the world are you doin'?" She didn't turn her head away from her current task, a smile soon replacing her disgruntled frown once she pulled out a text that piqued her interest.

Look! Bruno pointed with his snout, snorting a column of smoke from his nostrils. There's a new guy!

"Hang on," she murmured, quickly paying for the book and settling it into her satchel. Happy with her purchase, Walterine finally looked to where Bruno kept pointing toward. Lo and behold: there was someone new at her cousin's bakery stand.

She makes her way over, greeting Selasi as he finished helping with a customer.

"Walt! Meet my new apprentice!"

As Selasi beckons the young man over, Walt replied with, "Apprentice? What happened to the last one?”

“They quit!” Selasi laughs. He heartily claps a hand over his new apprentice’s shoulder, more or less pushing them in front of his cousin. “He doesn’t speak much Common yet, but his name’s James!”

It’s then that Walterine’s curiosity is piqued about this young man before her. He couldn’t have been too much younger than her. The shock of bright copper hair and green eyes threw her for a loop though.

“From the South?” Walterine guessed.

“Mm,” James nodded, though there’s a wistful glint in his eyes at the mention of it. “Nice to meet you . . .” He shyly extended a hand outward to her.

In turn, Walt shook his hand with a firm grip. “Hey, nice to meet you too! This is my cousin Selasi, as I’m sure you know, and I’m Walterine. Everybody calls me Walt though, so please stick with that.”

James nods in reply, a small smile on his face.

“I better get a move on, but hey! You’ll definitely see more of me in the future,” Walt chuckles, flashing him such a smile and a wink that made James flush pink.

As she turned to go, Selasi reassured him that that flirtatious streak Walt had was how his cousin was in general.

“She’s serious though. She comes by everyday for some pumpkin bread. Speaking of which, lemme show you how it’s made . . .”

I finally got Walt and James’s meet-cute written down! I’ve been wanting to do that for a while, lol.